Headgear of various types which are provided with an external light assembly are well known, as illustrated by the well known miners lamps which have been used for centuries. Generally, hat mounted lights have been designed to project a strong beam of light to illuminate a darkened area, such as a work area, and for this purpose, lights are either externally mounted upon a hat as shown by the U.S. patents to Wamsky et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,032,647 and Cannone, U.S. Pat. No. 4,406,040. Sometimes a plurality of lights are externally mounted upon a hat as shown by the Heminoier U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,079. Generally, hat mounted lighting units which are not entirely external require that a unique hat design be provided as illustrated by the U.S. patents to Rothchild, U.S. Pat. No. 2,501,006 and Weiss U.S. Pat. No. 2,943,186.
Although most prior art hat mounted lighting devices are purely for area illumination, lighting devices have been provided to illuminate indicia or figures mounted upon a hat. Generally, these devices, as illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 2,203,028 to Parrillo, require a specially designed hat, and are not adapted for mounting on conventional hats or caps. Also, such known devices generally include a single point light source positioned behind the indicia to be illuminated, and uneven illumination and dark spots result. The brightest illumination of the indicia occurs directly opposite the light source, and illumination decreases as the indicia extends laterally from the light source.